Twelve Hundred Ninety-Nine

 

June 28, 2021

7.13 Miles in 1:12:33

Mood: Forgetful
Soundtrack: The Bill Simmons Podcast

I cheated a bit. This photo is from several hours after I ran. I had a nice run this morning, but totally forgot to take a picture, so I'm posting these lovely flowers from Southglenn that I saw on my walk with my daughter around lunchtime. I feel like this is an acceptable cheat, as I DID run past these flowers this morning, so it is a place I ran by on the same day I ran past it.

Honestly, I wish I took a picture of the giant mound of dirt in the middle of Gallup St. They are doing some type of construction work, and as a result, the street has been completely dug up and was entirely unusable. I only managed to get around it by walking the perimeter which jutted right up into someone's yard. That huge mound of dirt in the middle of the road would have made a really good picture, but I totally blew it! 

Twelve Hundred Ninety-Eight

 

June 26, 2021

7.54 Miles in 1:17:25

Mood: Wandering off
Soundtrack: TBTL

I intended to stay at Wash Park and do some laps, but about two-thirds of the way around the park on my first lap, I decided to veer off and follow my random feelings to heaven knows where. I ended up running to the south edge of Cheesman Park via Cherry Creek on a route that I've never really tried before. It was varied and scenic, and it was a beautiful Saturday morning. I ended up finishing my lap of Wash Park and heading home, but not before a slight detour to check out the Washington Park Lawn Bowling Club building. I was drawn there by the odd tile portrait that is definitely new to this little shed. It was put up to honor the man who served as president of the club from 2016 to 2021. It's more than a little weird looking...especially as you get closer to it. It's also a little funny to have such a big place of honor for a guy who headed up the club for 5 years when it's been around since 1924. Still, it was a new and interesting thing to take a picture of, so I was in favor of it!

Twelve Hundred Ninety-Seven

 

June 24, 2021

7.29 Miles in 1:17:25

Mood: The new art is here! The new art is here!
Soundtrack: The Bill Simmons Podcast

There is some new art up at Goodson Rec Center, they rotate in new stuff every half year or so, and I'm liking the new crop.. I can't tell if this is supposed to be a balloon or a fish (or perhaps something else altogether). I do like the colors, though. It looks nice with all the lovely green in the background. 

Spent most of this one circling Southglenn, but the final two miles were spent going to DeKoevend Park and back, and checking out the new art.

Twelve Hundred Ninety-Six

 

June 22, 2021

7.33 Miles in 1:16:07

Mood: Is this real life? (I was groggy)

Soundtrack: TBTL

It is flower season, so here are some more in my recent trend of posting flower pics. These purple ones were growing in one thick bunch and they look really cool in the middle of the Willow Creek open area. I felt pretty good running, but I also felt a little thick headed as if I wasn't quite awake while moving. Never fully shook the feeling, but I got a good run in and saw some cool flowers, so all in all...pretty good!

Twelve Hundred Ninety-Five

 

June 20, 2021

7.66 Miles in 1:16:42

Mood: I like greenery.
Soundtrack: Modest Mouse "Strangers to Ourselves" and Bo Burnham "Inside (The Songs)"

It's hard to tell from this photo, but this tree was COVERED in white flowers, and it looked really cool in the early morning sunshine. We are still in the ultra green portion of Denver summer, and it's fun to see just how much growth there is everywhere. I'm sure that the heat of summer will eventually wilt it all, but for now my city is pretty lush.

Twelve Hundred Ninety-Four

 

June 18, 2021

7.79 Miles in 1:20:17

Mood: I guess I'm a home decor critic now.

Soundtrack: Faye Webster "Run and Tell"

I don't remember what street I took this photo on, but I'm pretty sure the house number is 5750. With as much as I truly love the Broncos logo, I'm not sure how I feel about this house number sign. Part of me thinks it looks pretty cool, but another part of me is not so sure. I know I'd never put it on my own house, but I kinda like it on this house. Especially with how it contrasts with the bricks. Although I am not all about the mountains underneath the logo, they are maybe a bit much. This concludes my architecture review. 

Twelve Hundred Ninety-Three

 

June 15, 2021

7.30 Miles in 1:18:45

Mood: Hooray for flowers!

Soundtrack: TBTL

Another running in circles run at Southglenn. At least when I do this in the summer, it's pretty easy to find photo ops, as the gardeners at Southglenn are really good at growing flowers.

Twelve Hundred Ninety-Two

 

June 13, 2021

7.68 Miles in 1:17:31

Mood: Men in Kilts?
Soundtrack: Twenty One Pilots "Scaled and Icy"

This is some effective marketing. I don't know if it's GOOD marketing, but it is effective. I took a picture of the van, even though I'm not sure if this is a legit window cleaning service, or a service to titillate people with a Scottish fetish. Either way, it's memorable. Especially the small black sign angled over the door which reads "No Peeking" which felt unnecessary. 

It was a hot morning, but my mantra is to never complain about heat when I would kill for weather like this all winter. No snow equals no complaints. Although I might potentially complain if Men In Kilts start washing windows near me.

Twelve Hundred Ninety-One

June 11, 2021

7.47 Miles in 1:15:45

Mood: Imagine the inside of a trash bin. 
Soundtrack: Robert DeLong "In The Cards"

I used to have a favorite tree. It got cut down this winter, and it made me sad. Back when it was still up, someone started putting crappy plastic toys all over it just like this about a year ago. This tree is like 50 feet from the stump of my favorite tree, and I'm guessing it's the same person who did it before. I have a confession. One day on a run, I put a grocery bag in my pocket and collected all the junk in my favorite tree, tossed it in that bag, and tossed the bag in the garbage. 

This time, the person is trying to brand it as "Imagination Tree". I hate this. Putting cheap plastic garbage all over a tree and using a sharpie on a lawn flamingo is not using your imagination...It's junking up nature. I don't love this tree like I did the wizard tree, but I am still strongly considering another intervention on the grounds that this looks terrible. 

John Lennon would not approve. (Probably)

 

Twelve Hundred Ninety

 

June 9, 2021

7.05 Miles in 1:14:13

Mood: Cat on a fence
Soundtrack: TBTL

This cat could not have looked more awkward on this fence. Yet he just stared at me the whole time I was taking his picture as if he was loving life perched up there and couldn't be bothered to move. I kinda respect that. This cat looked uncomfortable, but he's not moving for anybody.

Twelve Hundred Eighty-Nine

 

June 7, 2021

7.77 Miles in 1:22:27

Mood: Feels good to feel good. 
Soundtrack: Bill Simmons Podcast

I hadn't felt good on a run since May, so it was awfully nice to get rolling on this one and actually have my legs. I decided to just run in circles at Southglenn, but I felt very good the whole time and enjoyed the roses as I ran. It wasn't anything special, but feeling good on a run was a nice change!

Twelve Hundred Eighty-Eight

 

June 5, 2021

6.00 Miles in 1:02:04

Mood: Jet lagged and melting. 

Soundtrack: Counting Crows "Butter Miracle Suite One"

I had been back in Denver for a day and a half, and I was tired. It was also hot, and the result was a disaster of a run. I somehow managed to drag my butt to six miles, which felt like a win, but it wasn't pretty. At least Wash Park was pretty, as you can see, everything was green and lush. Also, I had some new music from Counting Crows for the first time in seven years, and even though it was just a few new songs, I was enjoying mightily even as I was struggling with being tired and hot. 

Twelve Hundred Eighty-Seven

 

June 2, 2021

7.09 Miles in 1:13:36

Mood: One last Hawaiian run. 
Soundtrack: Locked On: Nuggets Podcast and TBTL

I definitely wasn't running as often as usual while on vacation, as we had a pretty action packed schedule, but I knew I needed to squeeze in one more, so on our last full day in Hawaii, I got up early and once again headed north. I was very similar to my first run in Hawaii, but I felt so much more familiar with the scenery and comfortable with where I was. I also had been going pretty hard on vacation, so I was a little gassed towards the end of this run. 

It was a pleasant run, as I had watched my Nuggets win a huge playoff game the night before, so I was in a good mood as I listened to a podcast that discussed the epic win before catching up on a few episodes of TBTL. I went all the way north to my new favorite shave ice place, Ululani's. It wasn't open yet, but I was pretty sure I would be back later in the day to get some. (Spoiler: I was)

The run home was half running half walking, but I managed to get myself up to seven miles before walking home the final few blocks. On the way back, I also stopped by a nice park that is just adjacent to the beach to take a picture of this enormous whale statue. Apparently if you go to Maui in winter, whales are everywhere, but we were there at the wrong time of year for them, still...it's a cool statue!

Twelve Hundred Eighty-Six

 

May 28, 2021

7.01 Miles in 1:13:02

Mood: Hawaii isn't hard to look at.
Soundtrack: The Avett Brothers "The Third Gleam"

I went north on my first Maui run, so naturally I headed south this time. That led me to Wailea, a fancy  town that is known for spectacular golf courses, big resorts, and some pretty great beaches. I was on the main road for the first half of the run and saw some very well maintained golf courses, but I decided to run back to our condo via a path that connected many different resorts and ran right along the beach. This chapel was smack dab in the middle of one of the resorts, and I walked over to check it out, because it truly was beautiful. I'm assuming a lot of people have begun marriages here, and I can't blame any of them for that, cool place to begin a life together. 

I thought I could run on the paved path all the way back to where I was staying in Kihei, but the resorts ended before I made it back to the road and I had to run about a third of a mile on the sandy beach...pretty, but running in sand is pretty terrible, so I was glad when I finally got back to the road. I finished this run by waiting in a fairly long line to get some cinnamon rolls for the family, and headed home having burned some calories and preparing to eat even more!

Also, this run put me over 100 miles for May, so I'm now at 22 straight months!

Twelve Hundred Eighty-Five

May 25, 2021

7.65 Miles in 1:16:47

Mood: In an Aloha state of mind.

Soundtrack: Twenty One Pilots "Scaled and Icy"

The list of states in which I have posted a run to the blog expands for the first time since 2019. This time I added the Aloha state! The blog now has posts from these 15 states: Colorado, Kansas, Washington, South Dakota, Illinois, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Iowa, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Utah and Hawaii. 

Running in Maui is slightly less interesting that I was expecting, as the town I was running in pretty much has one road that runs north and south along the beach line. Basically I can run north or I can run south, there aren't a whole lot of diversions from those directions. On the plus side, I wasn't in Hawaii long enough to get bored of those limited options and there are beautiful views in every direction. I decided to post a picture of this cool "Aloha" sign with a beautiful beach behind it because it felt pretty dang Hawaii. 

Not only was I blessed to be in one of the more beautiful places on earth, but I also had a brand new album from Twenty One Pilots to check out while I ran there. Pretty good morning. And for the record, I decided to run north.

Twelve Hundred Eighty-Four

 

May 23, 2021

7.75 Miles in 1:19:21

Mood: Prepping for Hawaii

Soundtrack: Modest Mouse "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank"

I was less than 24 hours away from leaving for a vacation to Hawaii, but I definitely needed the miles, and I also wanted to wear myself out a bit so that I could fall asleep early as I had to wake up at 2:30 in the morning to head to the airport, so I headed up for a Sunday run at Wash Park, and it was beautiful. The flowers are starting to really bloom all over the park, and I really liked these purple spherical ones. I also took photos of about three or four other flowers and the gardeners have been BUSY!